AEROBICS FLOORING

This storefront started out as a unit of a regional women's sportswear chain called Dana. Dana had stores in Roanoke, Blacksburg (and possibly Lynchburg) and had its heyday in the early 1980s.

At some point the stores were sold to another chain called Mark Henri which had some kind of affiliation with a larger chain called Seifferts, which had also bought La Vogue, another similar chain.

In any event, no matter what you called the stores, they were out of business by the late 1980s, and Images by B, a hair salon, moved into this storefront. This is still a hair salon, but there was no name posted.
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University Mall is a shopping center in Blacksburg, Virginia adjacent to the Virginia Tech campus at the intersection of Prices Fork Road and University City Boulevard. Opened in 1974, the original enclosed mall contained about 250,000 square feet of retail space and was anchored by Woolco and Roanoke-based Heironimus, with Kroger on an outparcel across the street.

During the 1970s and much of the 1980s, this was the hottest retail address in the New River Valley. The center featured a strong mix of regional and local tenants including Mills Fabric, Ritz Camera, H&M Shoes, John Norman (menswear), Sidney’s, The Sickle Moon, Dana (all three were women’s apparel stores), Printer’s Ink bookstore and Peoples Drug. Even Woolco’s closure in 1983 didn’t cripple the place; Roses quickly moved in to replace it.

What did take this place down was the opening of the New River Valley Mall in neighboring Christansburg in 1988. Though the anchors stayed in place, the small shops inside the mall largely closed or moved.

In the early 1990s, both anchors folded and Virginia Tech took over their spaces for various university services and a branch of the University Bookstore. During this time, People Drug became Revco and then CVS and the mall interior slowly filled back in with various local businesses.

In 2004, the mall was sold to a group of local businessmen and plans were made to eventually donate the property to the Virginia Tech Foundation, the mall’s primary tenant. During this time, the interior of the mall received its only renovation. Its tile and concrete floors were carpeted. The globes of its pole lights were changed, and the mall was painted. Two large mobiles were placed over its pair of fountains, which have were thoroughly cleaned. On the exterior, the south end of the mall was expanded and heavily renovated with a parking garage and multistory office building added next to the intersection of Prices Fork Road and University City Boulevard, along with an outparcel for Panera Bread.

Though the center is almost fully tenanted now, the interior mall remains a well-preserved relic of 1970s retail design. Many storefronts are still original and substantially all of the interior decor from 1974 is still here. Even the CVS is still here, largely unchanged from its days as a Peoples Drug.

Stylist and the salon's extra set of hands, Brandon Rabideau, began his career as a stylist three years ago in a career change. He previously worked 12 years in the real estate industry working for home builders, sub-division planning and construction. Brandon says, "Cutting hair is very similar to carpentry, expect now you just do it on someone's hair instead of in their living room. The same rules apply." His influence to a new career path came during the declining real estate market combined with the talent and vision of Halo Salon by his wife, Jenna Rabideau. While attending Fort Worth Beauty School, Brandon used his business knowledge and expertise to manage the salon. He's been on the floor since early 2009 but cites working with and learning from the best of the best in the industry at Halo has elevated his experience level. He challenges himself constantly to be as good if not better than the stylist beside him, using the best of his ability and potential; a true perfectionist. His coworkers have all said that he is a natural and has learned faster than any other stylist. Brandon has already had the opportunity to work on celebrity clientele such as Thom Filicia. He loves working with all kinds of cultural hair types and draws his influence from Kim Kardashian, Beyonce, and Rihanna. He is passionate about clean lines and soft movement and says he's his own worst critic. He brings his influence from his other musical creative outlet to his new profession. Brandon stars in a hip-hop music ensemble in which he sings, plays drums and keyboard, and is involved in the recording, editing and mastering of his music. He and Jenna have been married for 12 years and have two children.

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